Now or Never
by victorwonder
Summary: The Omega is defeated. J Squad is dead. The Angel of Verdun no longer. Cage dies with honor. But what should have ended as victory with noble sacrifices did not. As the old saying goes, fortune favors the brave, and by chance, Cage regained the ability to time-reset one more time and woke up in the past, victorious. This short story is a continuation of where the film left off.


**Edge of Tomorrow** (Extended Ending)

Upon seeing Rita, Cage immediately felt a desire to run up and embrace her but restrained himself as he knew all too well that she would not recognize him. Calmly, Cage approached her. Rita, focused on her training and positioned in total concentration, had her hands on the floor effortlessly lifting her whole body in a horizontal fashion. Distracted by footsteps, she looked up to see an officer approaching her. Her focus dissipated, she started to relax and gracefully stood, reminiscent of a lithe gymnast.

"_Yes?_" she asked with irritation.  
"_Do I have something on my face?_" she continued.

Cage could not help but smile upon hearing such familiar dialogue, smiling in adoration. Rita Vrataski,  
... a woman,  
... a warrior,  
... an angel,  
... a partner.

"_What's so funny?_" she asked, now frustrated.  
"_Nothing!_" Cage replied.

Rita stared, confused and irritated.

"_Nothing,_" Cage repeated.  
"_Look, I'm busy, either tell me what you want or ..._" Rita stated in frustration but was cut-off before she could finish her sentence.  
"_Sorry to disrupt your training Sergeant,_" Cage interrupted, calmly trying to ease the tension.  
"_I just wanted to meet the Angel of Verdun,_" Cage explained with a smile.  
"_Now I have,_" he continued.

Cage nodded his head, giving a gesture of farewell and started walking off. Rita stared at the man walking away with a curious look before turning away to resume her training. Halfway out of the training room, Cage stopped and paused a moment. Cage turned to look back at Rita just in time to see her turn in his direction to meet his gaze.

"_I'm sorry,_" she stated apologetically.  
"_I'm not a fan,_" she continued.  
"_Of talking?_" Cage questioned with a grin, fairly certain of her answer.  
"_Yes, not a fan of talking,_" Rita responded in turn, the exact words Cage anticipated.

Cage could not help but laugh, remembering the first time he heard her say those very same words.

"_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you,_" Cage quickly stated upon seeing Rita's frustrated look, trying to diffuse the tension that was building.

Rita was about to speak but Cage continued to talk, interrupting her.

"_I just remembered someone saying that to me, someone I ..._" Cage paused, staring at Rita's angelic eyes.  
"_... lost,_" Cage continued.

Rita looked around the room, trying to collect her thoughts.

"_I'm sorry,_" Rita said.

Cage shook his head.

"_It doesn't matter, she's still here ..._" Cage said with a teary smile.

Cage cleared his throat, trying to reign in his emotions. He formed a fist with his right hand and pounded his heart gently to continue his earlier statement with a simple gesture to convey what he meant.

"_Anyway, now that I've got you talking ..._" Cage continued, being interrupted mid-sentence.  
"_I'm sorry, I don't have time,_" Rita replied with a tone of harsh irritation returning.  
"_I was just gonna ask, how about a sparring session?_" Cage continued, questioningly.  
"_No!_" Rita responded bluntly.  
"_You've been training with these machines for a while now. Aren't they getting a tad predictable?_"

Rita looked at Cage with a curious thought.

"_These machines do better than most,_" she answered.  
"_Well, you haven't tried me. I learned from the best,_" he retorted.  
"_Really!? And who might that be?_" she asked wryly.  
"_Funny you should ask. You kinda remind me of her. Real taskmaster. Wouldn't fall for my charms,_" he flirted.  
"_I like her already. Sounds like someone I could hang with,_" she returned mockingly.  
"_Wouldn't that be something?_" he retorted rhetorically.  
"_Anyway, it'd be mutually beneficial. You get to train with something real,_" Cage reasoned, trying to elicit a positive reaction.  
"_So, what's in it for you?_" Rita questioned curiously.  
"_I get to say I bested the Angel of Verdun,_" he whimsically responded.  
"_Ah, bragging rights huh?_" she responded.  
"_Major William Cage,_" he calmly stated, introducing himself.  
"_Just so you know,_" he explained.  
"_Since I already know you,_" Cage continued, his gaze full of admiration.

Rita stared in thought. Cage, sensing the awkwardness of the moment, winked at Rita playfully, trying to goad her to accept his challenge.

"_Just remember, you asked,_" Rita responded as she walked towards a Jacket, a mechanized exoskeleton built to combat the alien threat.

Cage likewise followed suit and soon the two warriors geared up, both wielding their battle swords. Both started circling each other, ready to begin, each sensing an unspoken agreement of hand-to-hand combat; no guns or any kind of ballistic weapon.

The two warriors clashed for hours and soon gathered a large audience. Cage would sometimes falter mostly due to his affection towards his opponent but would quickly recover from his distraction, knowing how serious and battle-hardened his angel was and how committed she was at winning. If this was as close as he was ever gonna get to being with her, he was gonna give it his best to give her a fight she won't forget, something that she'll long remember from that moment forward. Soldiers started to gather and even high-ranking officers could not stop the fight. The Angel of Verdun would not let this end without a clear victor.

Hours continued to pass. The two combatants relented, matching wits and skills that only came with experience and repetitive discipline. After such a long struggle, Rita soon gained the upper hand. Rita had Cage unbalanced and took the opportunity to lunge forward, sword ready to make a final strike to end what has become a brutal sparring session. Cage however, already saw this strategy of Rita's time and again and knew exactly what to do. Unexpectedly, Rita ejected herself from her Jacket as she threw her sword towards Cage, anticipating the direction he would dodge to avoid the collision. Cage deflected the sword and focused on counter-striking Rita to make a final, victorious blow, not realizing Rita was no longer wearing her Jacket. Before he could strike, he found himself at the mercy of Rita, knife at his throat. The two combatants breathed in exhaustion.

"_So? What was that about besting the Angel?_" Rita questioned, out of breath.  
"_You never taught me that one!_" Cage replied with an exhausted smile.

THE END

[Post-credit]

With a sudden realization, Rita found herself speechless. As she threw her knife on the floor, she formed a brief smile.

"_So, does the Angel fall for the Hero?_" she mocked.  
"_I don't know, we've never gotten that far,_" he jokingly answered.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

I loved the movie but the ending disappointed so I made this fic to make the movie stay consistently awesome in my head LOL.

First time I saw the ending, it was confusing. When I had time to reflect, it kinda started making sense.

Also, the film highlighted how attached William Cage (Tom Cruise) became towards Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) so it's fair to assume that he would at least attempt to get to know her more than he had already and to hope for her to get to know the man he has become, as she was the one responsible for the change. Nothing so obvious or unoriginal as the hero gets the girl kind of thing, just a simple nod to how Cage would approach this new time line would have been satisfactory. Something like ... oh I don't know ... presenting a rose to Rita, as a nod that he knows her middle-name with Rita not immediately realizing the significance, then boom, black screen, credits roll and the rest left to our imagination :)


End file.
